In a startling piece of breaking news, Missouri’s Amendment 2, the referendum question concerning the legalization and regulation of sports betting, continues to be tabulated. The once-narrow victory for pro-sports betting advocates is shrinking even further, putting the future of mobile and retail sports betting in the Show Me State on pause.
December 10th Deadline
Plans were already forming for the launch of sports betting in Missouri after a razor-thin margin of victory was reported at the ballot boxes on November 5th. The initial results revealed 50.1% of Missourians voted to license, regulate, and tax mobile and retail sports betting while 49.9% were opposed. Additional votes needed to be counted, but although the margin was slight, it was assumed there would not be enough no votes to overcome the deficit.
However, the margin is narrowing even further according to reports coming out of Christian County, reporting 9,653 votes that were tabulated after Election Day in which an additional 3,995 votes were counted against the sports betting initiative (6824 against vs. 2829 in favor).
This dramatically changes the calculus of the referendum, with a 4,363-vote majority on Election Day dropping to a mere 368 more votes in favor out of 3 million votes cast. However, there are 116 election jurisdictions in Missouri that have yet to certify their results. But a preliminary review shows that those numbers may favor the sports betting referendum by approximately 728 votes, which would be within the 0.5% margin triggering a recount if requested.
Final certification for all jurisdictions must be completed by December 10th, and a recount can then be requested afterward if the margin remains below 0.5%, as recounts are not automatic in Missouri’s election laws.
Pro-Sports Betting Advocates Confident
Jack Cardetti, spokesman for Winning for Missouri Education, the political action committee formed to campaign on behalf of Amendment 2, stated his organization is closely monitoring the results.
“The fact that even the provisional ballots are coming in on the net side for us is good, so you can imagine what St. Louis and Kansas City will show,” Cardetti said.
Eryn Flood, deputy clerk and director of elections, noted the voluminous number of early votes overwhelmed the ballot counting equipment.
“With us having such a high volume of absentees, we were running out of machines, and so we had to keep three machines open to ensure that we had enough room for Friday,” Flood said.
“We might have to look into, for presidential elections at least, having more machines,” Flood said. “I don’t think the entire state of Missouri was ready for the amount of people coming in their offices to vote.”
So When Are We Getting Sports Betting?
The law stipulates that sports betting must be launched by December 1, 2025, but assuming there is no recount, that date is likely to happen much sooner and in time for the beginning of next year’s NFL season in September.
Missouri Gaming Commission chairman Jan Zimmerman said, “Our folks are writing the rules and regulations as we speak,” she noted last week.
“Optimistically, in order to get through all those administrative processes, we’re looking at mid-to-late summer (2025),” she added.
